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Who will pick the cotton?

Recently there was a good opinion letter to the Bellingham Herald. It was from Geraldine M. Swigart. She basically said that immigrants need to obey the laws and that if that meant No more cheap tomatoes. It’s all right with her. I liked her stand about right and wrong and her willingness to endure the hardship of pricey tomatoes, if that’s what it took. Her opinion is in sharp contrast to illegal immigrants and their supporters who blackmail us with food price doom and gloom.

Here is my take, which I also sent to the Herald over the weekend.

Who will pick the cotton?

I am tired of defeatist claiming that we can’t survive without cheap illegal immigrant labor. That lazy American’s won’t pay $5 for lettuce. Did we hear Abraham Lincoln say “you’re right we can’t end slavery? Who will pick the cotton?

No! We solved the problem the right way, we invented and innovated. We have harvesters for everything from worms to asparagus to cotton. I have confidence that someone will build a lettuce harvester, if they haven’t already.

It is no more right for us to “enslave” illegal immigrants than it is for them to break our immigration laws. And I use the word “enslave” to refer to actions of those who hire illegal immigrants. Holding fast to our immigration laws will not oppress anyone. It will challenge everyone. Pride, satisfaction and prosperity are the result of meeting challenges head on.

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“Doesn’t simple morality dictate that unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is? Therefore, it is entitled to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”